The answer
Some place a great importance on this promise, claiming that the Master Christ, to Whom be glory, prophesied concerning the coming of another when He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit.
This deceitful perspective is erroneous, misleading, and completely unacceptable for a number of reasons. The most important are:
- ❖ Existential Error:
The Master Christ promised His Disciples a “Spirit,” and not a person or a man. This is precisely what took place on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Disciples in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 2).
- ❖ Historical Error:
The Master Christ promised that He would send the Holy Spirit after a few days (Acts 1:5). This promise coincides with what happened historically, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Disciples only ten days after the Ascension of Christ, to Him be glory. At the same time, it does not coincide whatsoever with what happened historically, more than five or six centuries, after the Nativity of the Master Christ.
- ❖ Linguistic Error:
When the Master Christ spoke concerning the sending of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, He used the Greek word paraklētos (Comforter). It is a legal word, which refers to one who stands in court to defend (John 16:8).46 Some writers confused the matter, and mistook it for another Greek word, which is periklytos (illustrious; praised). This linguistic confusion caused some to understand erroneously that the Master Christ was referring to another, but this did not happen at all.
His Holiness Pope Tawadros II
Notes
46 Translator’s note: paraklētos, n.: one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defence, legal assistant; an advocate; one who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor; a helper, succorer, aider, assistant. (cf. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon.).
Pope Tawadros II, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 2014), 134–135.
The pages in the book (134–135)
